IT MAKES LITTLE SENSE TO ME!!
The Republican National Convention just ended in Tampa. The Republican Party has spent three days
telling us what they are against! I
wonder if they for anything? Having been raised in a Democratic leaning family,
that attended church on a regular basis, we believe in the social contract,
that says we should take care of the poor and the sick.
The philosophy of the Republican party of 2012, seems in
stark contrast to the Republican party of 2000, when George W. Bush talked
about being a compassionate conservative. At the time I thought that was an
oxymoron. Is there really anything compassionate about conservatives? The
answer is yes. The Bush administration
worked with faith based groups to attempt to take care of the poor and the
struggling. They have a philosophy about social security: they want to privatize it! Again I disagree
with the plan. At least they believed
in something. As much as the second Bush Administration is criticized for
everything and anything, I applaud them for the compassionate advocacy for the
poor.
What does the Republican party of today stand for? They talk about that they are the party of
fiscal responsibility, but are they really?
When George W. Bush took office, the country was on track to have a
surplus. I do not really need to go
over this territory again because it has been said over and over. The Tea Party
came to power in 2010 with a hatred towards Government! They cheered as the
country stood on the fiscal cliff as we discussed a routine increase in the
debt ceiling. They unveiled a debt clock at their convention but, failed to
talk about that half of the debt on the clock comes from a Republican President
and a Republican Congress. Paul Ryan the newly minted Vice Presidential
Candidate, in his acceptance speech had the nerve to criticize President Obama
on the Simpson/Bowles fiscal plan but, what he did not have the courage to tell
you was that he was a member of that fiscal commission, and when it came up in
the house he voted against it. Is there anything really intellectual about
being dishonest? That is what Paul Ryan
appeared to be in his speech.
Here is a short list of things that they oppose:
They oppose marriage equality, and want to continue to
defend the enshrinement of discrimination in the constitution by defending the
“Defense of Marriage act” even though courts all around the country continue to
rule that it is unconstitutional. Let me ask you a simple question, does the
married gay or lesbian couple next door really make your marriage of lesser
value? If the value of your marriage is lessened by the gay couple next door,
perhaps you need to look inward. How about that couple next door, gay or
straight, are they good neighbors? Are they generous to the community? Do they
keep their yard in good order? What matters is that they are good neighbors who
give back to their community.
They also oppose, abortion, and there is nothing wrong with
being pro-life versus pro choice. It is a very personal thing. It is the way
they do it, that is dishonest. They rail against the government saying the
government wants to run our lives but, if you look across the country they have
spent the last two years passing abortion bills, so they do not want government
to regulate our finances the environment. They want government to stick its
nose into the most personal decision that a woman or a couple can make. It is
being a hypocrite. They are doing this
very well. Since 1994 when Mitt Romney opposed Ted Kennedy for the Senate seat
in Massachusetts, his position has evolved. At that time we was pro-choice, I
guess if he really believed that I don’t understand how the evolved to being
pro-life! Was he pandering to the electorate then or is he pandering to the
conservative base of today’s Republican party? My mom and I were recently
discussing this issue and my mom said, “you are pro-choice because I raised you
that way, I am pro-choice because my mother raised me to be that way.” I
thought, WOW, here was a woman who was
born in 1910, in a more conservative age but, had become pro-choice. I was
fascinated by that whole thing. My mother stated that, “your grandmother
remembers a time when abortion was the dirty little secret of the country. It
still happened but, unprofessionally. Old ladies with knitting needles and coat
hangers, back alley abortionists who did not care about the life of the woman
after the procedure. The platform states that they oppose abortion in all cases
with no exceptions! No rape exception, no incest exception, and
no life of the mother exception! Paul Ryan recently stated, “it doesn’t matter
the method of conception its still a life!” He is correct but, to force a woman
to give birth to a rapist child seem criminal to me. I just don’t understand or
accept that way of thinking or philosophy.
I close with this thought. My grandmother was probably one
of the most influential people in my life. I recall a conversation from the
2004 Presidential election. In that conversation a woman who had been a life
long Republican decided that she would, for the first time in her life, vote
for Democrat! She just did not understand where the party was going. It no
longer reflected her values of fiscal conservatism and still supporting the
social safety net.